Field of the Invention
The present invention is concerned with building structures and, more particularly, with residential building structures.
Recently, with the shortage of petroleum and the sharply increased costs of other fuels employed in heating buildings as well as the rapid increase in the cost of electrical energy in most areas of the country, significant attention has been directed to developing building structures that are more efficient in their utilization of energy for heating and cooling. In addition, alternative sources such as solar energy for heating and providing hot water have seen significant development in recent years. Greater use has been made of extensive insulation of buildings, storm sashes, and various techniques for making the structures more weathertight.
While all of the foregoing approaches have advantages, they all have significant limitations either in cost or in effectiveness.
Utilization of solar energy adds to the original cost of construction since supplemental heating units are generally required because of the general inability of solar energy arrangements to provide sufficient heat input in high demand times to adequately heat structures. Solar energy is also unreliable as a primary heat source due to the weather interrupting the flow of energy from the sun to the collectors of the system and the bulkiness of energy storage in solar heating systems. In addition, solar energy does not provide a direct means of cooling structures in the summer other than as a source of energy to generate electricity, and with the present technology it is not an efficient means of generating electrical energy.
The widespread use of insulation has helped to inhibit heat loss or heat input to the building structure as the case may be. In the case of most residential structures, insulation is put into the interior of a single structural wall having external siding and sheetrock or plaster interior surface and placed in open rafters above the ceiling on the topmost floor of the structure. Storm sashes and various combinations of double glazing have been utilized to inhibit the generally enormous heat loss through window openings. The openings for electrical outlets, plumbing, windows and the like on the interior faces of the walls provide many sources for air leaks causing drafts as well as variations in the humidity content of the interior of the house because of significant "breathing" of the structure.
In the case of residential structures having basements, the basements are often unheated and there is no insulation provided on the walls and this is consequently a source of dampness and heat loss. Some attempts have been made to either insulate the bottom floor or insulate the basement walls. These approaches have all met with varying degrees of success but have presented problems with cost and moisture control.
Up until the present time, no attempt appears to have been made to construct a building which effectively utilizes the stabilized energy level of the earth mass as a source of energy to provide heat and cooling to the structure and to stabilize the temperature thereof.
While there are no prior art references known which teach the energy-sufficient structure of this application or suggest its structure, the following patents represent the most closely related prior patents known to the Applicant which disclose structures of background interest.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,664,076 McCoy discloses a prefabricated structure for walls, floor and ceiling comprised of an insulated filling having an inner surface skin and an external skin. In effect, the insulation bulk also comprises the structural elements of the building. It also includes the bottom layer or flooring cross section. The structure, thus includes insulation on all sides, top and bottom.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,983,670 Lightfoot relates to a partition system wherein in the base of a partition comprises a hollow channel for accomodating various services for the building such as wiring, piping, etc. The partition structure is of the modular type and the channel eliminates the necessity for forming custom openings in the partition for outlets, swtiches, etc.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,500,596 Andersson discloses a prefabricated building having roof, walls and bottom comprised of an outer corrugated metal structure having inner and outer corrugated walls spaced from each other, the outer serving as a facade or for receiving a facade for the house and the inner surface adapted to have a facade secured to it in the form of sheetrock, paneling or the like. The inner and outer corrugated walls have insulation material in between them and the spaces defined by the corrugations of the inner wall to which the facing panels are attached may serve as distribution channels for the flow of warm or cooling air as well as wiring channels and piping channels.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,189,878 Fitzgerald discloses a house roof insulation vent wherein provision is made to insure the flow of air through perforated openings in the soffit of the house up and over the top of the insulation layer on the rafters of the dwelling.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,112 Bertrand relates to an improved method of insulating a building having a rigid metallic frame structure and is of interest only for including of an inner layer of waterproof vinyl on the inside surfaces of the insulation material of the structure in order to diminish the possibility of water condensation and to improve the thermic insulation of the building as well. The vinyl layer serves as a means to further reduce the drafts due to minor openings and gaps in the main insulation.